SINTTAV says that standard included in RTP’s EE is for nine subsidies

ANDm reported, the trade union structure states that the signing, on Tuesday, of the integration of an interpretative standard into the Business Agreement (AE) ensures “the continuity of payment of subsidies that, in view of the allegations contained in a report of the General Inspection of Finance (IGF), ran the risk of being suspended already in August”.

It also regrets that the report, which is still preliminary, “hastened to reach the Social Communication and often through distorted interpretations, pointing out that some subsidies are undue for not being included in the Company Agreement, although it has had its own regulation for decades”.

In view of this, a “period of dialogue between RTP’s Board of Directors and trade union organisations has begun to prevent the suspension of these payments, with the inevitable consequences that such a situation would have on the remuneration conditions of 339 workers”.

SINTTAV clarifies that “nine subsidies are at stake, relating in particular to pain, polyvalence and increased functions”.

However, “the range of values involved is different, not in any way corresponding to abnormal values, particularly in view of the competitive environment in which RTP operates,” he adds, stating that “IGF did not refer to the actual amounts of subsidies, but rather to the fact that they were not included in the Enterprise Agreement”.

It is in this context “that an understanding has been reached that will enable us to safeguard, for the time being, the continuity of the payment of these subsidies, through the integration of this new interpretative standard into the EE”.

This is “not because IGF is considered to be right in its preliminary findings, but because it was considered necessary to clarify the framework and the correctness of the existence of these subsidies, many of which have been allocated for many years and integrated into the company’s remuneration practices”.

The union states that “all this reinforces the importance of safeguarding the Enterprise Agreement as a guarantee of a framework of greater predictability in industrial relations, preventing matters with a direct impact on the remuneration conditions of workers from being subject to individual decisions”.

Furthermore, the dialogue with RTP’s administration will continue “now through a protocol for future negotiations that will clarify doubts, clarify and regulate these and other matters”.

SINTTAV “will continue to defend workers and RTP, aware that narratives are systematically created to harm public perception about the public media service, often with the purpose of weakening it”, he says.

On Tuesday, RTP considered that the conditions were met to maintain the payment of the subsidies that were identified in the IGF draft report as undue.

The public station and the unions representing the workers signed on 18 August an addition of clarification of the EE, which was unanimously accepted. The agreement reached does not represent any increase in costs. 

At the beginning of the month, RTP’s administration decided to suspend preventively the allocation of new subsidies identified by IGF as undue and requested an urgent meeting of the guardianships to find solutions to prevent the suspension of the current ones.

This is a preliminary report by IGF for the period 2018-2024, which “identifies several payments of remuneration components in force in the company that it considers undue and makes recommendations on RTP’s financial and human resources management, several of which concern matters on which the company has already implemented, or is implementing, new procedures,” the company said in a statement.

The IGF audit follows from the proposal of the PSD parliamentary group, voted in October 2024 on the parliamentary committee of Budget, Finance and Public Administration.

The period under review – 2018 and 2024 – covers eight administrators: Gonçalo Reis, Nuno Artur Silva, Cristina Vaz Tomé, Hugo Figueiredo, Ana Dias da Fonseca, Luísa Ribeiro, Sonia Alegre and Nicolau Santos.